USA Modern Pentathlon Assistance Coach, Jimmy Moody won his first Division I NAC title in Dallas last month, taking gold in épée. In the gold medal final, Moody was up 3-1 after the first period against Alen Hadzic. Moody held a lead throughout the remainder of the bout and finished with a 15-12 victory. [1]

“I knew Alen has a really good flick and he’s really good with a short target, so that meant that I had to keep my hand back and rely entirely on my legs to win distance and timing. And then, from there, it was all what I like to call ‘weightroom touches.’ Right or wrong, when you decide to pull the trigger, you’ve got to go 100% and find a way,” Moody said. [1]

Moody's victory had an immediate impact on one young pentathlete.

While it is currently very cold in Minnesota with daytime highs staying below 0F, it doesn't mean those athletes are hibernating. One aspiring Modern Pentathlete, Graham Maas, is staying warm training and competing inside. Maas recently won his first épée tournament on December 29 at the Minnesota Sword Club. Maas attributed the inspiration for his victory to Moody. Maas has been studying the video from Moody's gold medal victory, and picked up on aspects of Moody's quick hand and foot work.

“Coach Todd [McIntyre) is always talking about footwork during our training. From the video, I was able to see that Jimmy was using his footwork to dictate the match and position himself for touches. I'm shorter than most people I fence, so I've been trying to use distance and footwork to position myself for what I want to do. I could see Jimmy was doing that and winning. So, I tried to carry that over to my own tournament. It worked out pretty good for me,” Maas said.